Latest revision as of 23:42, 15 July 2009

File:HARJES.GIFHarjes, Herman Henry. (1875, France - 1926, France): banker, senior partner of the Morgan-Harjes Bank of Paris founded by his father John Harjes (1830-1914), played a significant role behind the scenes in World War One by negotiating sizeable loans for the Allies. In time, the Morgan Bank system became the exclusive purchasing agents in the U.S. for the Allies. Harjes was a prominent member of the American Colony in Paris: he and his father had been among the founders of the American Hospital in Neuilly.

He became involved in relief work as soon as the war broke out. As head of the American Relief Clearing House, he presided over the channelling of American contributions to France in currency and in kind. As chief representative of the American Red Cross in France from 1914-1917, he founded the Harjes Formation, a volunteer ambulance driver group which later merged with Richard Norton's American Volunteer Motor-Ambulance Corps to become the Norton-Harjes. When relief work was militarized under the American Red Cross in July 1917, Harjes stepped down and became chief liaison officer for the AEF with the French High Command.

Harjes, said to have introduced polo to France, had in 1923 lost his eldest daughter in a riding accident. Handicapped by a stiff leg from a war injury -- Harjes had told his wife he would stop playing polo altogether, but was killed in 1926, in a polo accident which occurred during the 'just one more game' he had promised his wife would conclude his polo career.